New York City Mayor Eric Adams has failed to deter migrants from making the treacherous journey to the Big Apple from South America, with many more empowered than ever.
Over the weekend, Adams visited the Darien Gap, a treacherous rainforest traversed by thousands of mostly South American migrants a month, to try to dissuade them from coming to US cities as his own struggle to accommodate them.
His unusual trip to Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia underscores the criticism he and other Democratic city and state leaders have voiced for the immigration policies of President Joe Biden.
But for those who made the trip, Adams’ pleas to discourage them, while somewhat weak, fell on deaf ears as some begged the question, “How can you tell someone not to follow their American dream?”
New York Mayor Eric Adams (pictured) has failed to deter migrants from making the treacherous journey to the Big Apple from South America, with many more empowered than ever
Sitting on a restaurant doorstep with his wife and children, Carlos Gabriel Hernández told the New York Times that he had already tried and failed to cross the Darien Gap.
The remote, roadless crossing on the border between Colombia and Panama consists of more than sixty miles of dense rainforest, steep mountains and vast swamps and has claimed the lives of hundreds.
Despite the setback, Hernández said he was still determined to try to reach New York again and was surprised, even insulted, to learn why Adams had visited.
Johanna del Valle Acosta, told the outlet that while she understands Adams’ perspective, she wishes there was more compassion.
“I think he, as mayor, is defending his country,” she said.
“Suddenly other countries see us as a threat, but we are good people who want to work.”
Meanwhile, Jhonatan Antony Velásquez Diaz said this to the New York Times friends who made it to New York ‘told me to come, that many of them had jobs’.
“It lifts me up and keeps me going,” he said.
He said he doubted Adams’ words would carry much weight, adding that “no matter what, people are going to get there.”
A protest during New York Mayor Eric Adams’ visit to Necocli, northern Colombia, after he wrapped up a four-day trip to Latin America to deter migrants
The remote, roadless crossing on the border between Colombia and Panama consists of more than sixty miles of dense rainforest, steep mountains and vast swamps and has claimed the lives of hundreds.
“I’m not going to be discouraged by what a politician says or a mayor says.”
Speaking at a press conference during a stop in Puebla, central Mexico, Adams said: ‘Our hearts are endless, but our resources are not.’
Adding, ‘they deserve a more dignified environment than we can give.’
The journey, covering thousands of kilometers to make his case, highlights how the latest wave of migrants is reshaping the immigration debate among some Democratic leaders.
Republican governors near the border have been highly critical of Biden’s border policy.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has transported thousands of migrants north to New York, Chicago and other Democratic-controlled cities.
But in recent months, Adams and some other Democrats have said their cities far from the southern border are now also being strained by a surge of new arrivals, many of whom are fleeing violence and economic distress in Venezuela.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called the influx “unsustainable” in a letter to Biden on Monday, while Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, also a Democrat, said this week he planned to close the border between to visit the US and Mexico after more than 17,000 migrants have arrived in the city since last year.
Adams and some other Democrats said their cities far from the southern border are now also strained by a surge of new arrivals who have risked their lives to be there
Biden’s administration said Thursday it would add sections to a wall to reduce the record number of migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border
Immigration is likely to be a campaign theme in the 2024 US presidential race with a 54 percent majority of Americans agreeing with the statement that “immigration makes life harder for native-born Americans,” a September Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Some 73 percent of Republicans and 37 percent of Democrats surveyed agreed with that statement.
Biden’s administration said Thursday it would add parts to a wall to reduce the record number of migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, a signature policy of former President Donald Trump, Biden’s predecessor and the Republican front-runner. race to challenge him. in 2024.
Adams said many asylum seekers leave for New York in the belief that they will receive work and rooms in “five-star hotels” upon arrival, led astray by misinformation spread by smugglers and on social media. “We say it’s not true.”
The New York Immigration Coalition and other advocacy groups criticized Adams’ trip as an inefficient use of time and money when Adams cuts city budgets, saying that New York’s mayor has no influence on international policy and that the city has mismanaged the existing asylum system .
They said his comments last month that the migrant crisis would “destroy New York City” were inflammatory.
The New York Immigration Coalition and other advocacy groups criticized Adams’ trip as an inefficient use of time and money
The city says hundreds of migrants arrive every day with nowhere to stay
Adams’ office this week asked a judge to end a decades-old right-to-shelter mandate, which requires New York to provide a place to sleep for anyone who needs one.
The city says hundreds of migrants arrive every day with nowhere to stay.
The effort is opposed by the Legal Aid Society, which advocates for newly arrived migrants seeking asylum.
Joshua Goldfein, a legal aid attorney, said it was unclear whether physical travel to the Darien Gap could help with the crisis in New York, and there was more the mayor could do without leaving his hometown.
Much of the misinformation the mayor described was seen by asylum seekers on cellphones in TikTok videos shared on WhatsApp.
To counter that, the city should make its own videos in the languages of the migrants traveling north, Goldfein said.
“All three levels of government need to step up here to solve this problem,” Goldfein said: the federal government must provide people with work authorization, and local officials in states and cities must assist in meeting new arrivals and helping them resettle in less expensive and tense cities.
“But they’re all kind of pointing fingers at each other.”
Migrants say they will IGNORE NYC Mayor Eric Adams pleas and will continue to flood the southern border
